Snow white
Snow White" Once upon a time there lived a little
girl named Snow White. She lived with her Aunt and Uncle because her parents
were dead.
One day she
heard her Uncle and Aunt talking about leaving Snow White in the castle because
they both wanted to go to America and they didn’t have enough money to take
Snow White. Snow White did not want her Uncle and Aunt to do this so she
decided it would be best if she ran away. The next morning she ran away from
home when her Aunt and Uncle were having breakfast. She ran away into the
woods. Then she saw this little cottage. She knocked but no one answered so she
went inside and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, the
seven dwarfs were coming home from work. They went inside. There they found
Snow White sleeping. Then Snow White woke up. She saw the dwarfs. The dwarfs
said, “what is your name?” Snow White said, “My name is Snow White.”
Doc, one of the dwarfs, said, “If you wish, you may
live here with us.” Snow White said, “Oh could I? Thank you.” Then Snow White
told the dwarfs the whole story and Snow White and the 7 dwarfs lived happily
ever after.
"Golden
Eggs"
Long time ago a remote village, in central China
was inhabited mainly with farmers and hunters.
One day, a poor farmer lost his entire
livestock to flood. He prayed hard to God for help or his family would die of
starvation.
Few days later, an old man with long grey
beard, passed by his house took pity on him. He gave him a goose and said “ I
don’t have any expensive thing to give you and hope this goose will help you to
ease your hardship.”
A week later
to almost surprise the farmer found and egg in his yard. This was no ordinary
egg. It was a golden egg. He was suddenly overcome with joy.
Thereafter,
his livelihood had rapidly improved but the farmer had forgotten his earlier
hardship. He became lazy, arrogant and spendthrift.
Strangely, the goose only laid one golden egg
every six months. The greedy farmer lost his patient and slaughtered his goose
thinking there were plenty of golden eggs inside its stomach.
Though he very much regretted for his
foolishness, it’s already too late.
"Duck
and Turtle"
Two ducks who lived in a big lake had a friend
who was a turtle. One year there was a very little rain and the lake began to
dry up. One of the ducks said to the other, “Soon, there’ll be no water in this
lake. Let’s go and look for lake.”
“Yes, answered the second duck, “But first
let’s say good bye to our friend, the turtle.” When they told the turtle they
were going to leave, he said, “I’ll die here without any water and without any
friends. Take me with you.”
“The ducks
answered, “We can’t. We are going to fly, and you have no wings.” “The turtle
thought for a minute and then said, “please wait here.”
Then he went away and found a strong, straight
stick. He brought it back to his friends, put the middle of it in his mouth and
said, “Now if each of you takes me one end of the stick in his mouth, you can
lift me up and carry me with you.”
“ That is dangerous,” said the ducks, “if you
try to talk while we’re carrying you through the air, you won’t be able to hold
the stick, so you’ll fall down along way and break your shell.”
“All right,” answered the turtle, “I promise
not to talk while we’re in the air. So the ducks took the stick and flew away,
with the turtle between them. All went well until they were flying over a town.
Then some people saw them and shouted, “Look, those ducks are carrying a
cat!”The turtle got very angry, “A cat? I’m not …” he said, but he did not get
any further, because when he opened his mouth, the stick came out of his mouth
and the poor turtle fell to the ground.
Mousedeer and tiger
One day a tiger was hunting in the jungle. He was very hungry. In fact, he
was so hungry that he spoke aloud. 'I'd like to eat a nice juicy mousedeer,' he
said, 'or a fat snake.'
Now, it happened that a mousedeer
and his friend the elephant were nearby. They heard what the tiger said and decided to hide from him. Just then, the tiger fell
into a trap. `Help!' he roared. 'Somebody, help me!'
'Let's help the poor fellow,' said
the mousedeer.
'Do you think we should?' asked the elephant. 'After
all, we've just heard what he wants to eat for dinner.'
'Oh, come on,' said the kindhearted
mousedeer.
Just then a snake glided out of the
bushes. 'What's up?' he asked.
'It's the tiger,' the mousedeer explained. 'He's
fallen into a trap, and I think we should help him out.
And so they
did. The snake hung from the elephant's trunk like a rope, and, with the
mousedeer giving directions, they pulled the tiger out of the trap.
'Thank you, kind friends,' said the
tiger. 'It was very hot in that trap, and now I'm thirsty and so hungry.'
And with those words the
ungrateful tiger ate the snake and ran off into the jungle.
Now, the snake had been a good
friend to the elephant, and the elephant
was very angry. He and the mousedeer decided to teach the tiger a
lesson.
First they covered the trap with
branches and leaves. Then the elephant set off to find the tiger. The mousedeer
told the elephant what to tell the tiger: "fell him that I died of fright
and that if he wants a free meal, he can come and eat me.'
Soon the elephant found the tiger. 'Hello, Friend
Tiger,' he said. 'What you just did wasn't a very nice thing. Friends don't eat
each other.'
'It's every man for himself,' said the tiger. 'That's
the law of the jungle.'
'Well, I hope you're happy, 'the Elephant replied.
'Anyway, you gave the mousedeer such a fright that he dropped dead.'
'Oh really?' said the tiger. 'Then this is my lucky
day. Two meals! Can you show me where he is’
'Of course,' said the elephant, and he led the tiger
back through the jungle.
Suddenly they saw the mousedeer. He was hanging upside-down from a tree branch. 'How did he get up
there?' asked the surprised tiger.
'Oh, he leapt into the tree when you roared,' said the
elephant.
'How am I supposed to get at there’
'How should I
know?' said the elephant. 'Jump, I suppose.'
The tiger crouched.
Then with a roar he jumped at the mousedeer. But he was too late. Just
as the tiger jumped, the mousedeer moved away, and the tiger fell roaring into
the trap. 'Let me out,' he screamed. 'Is this any way to treat a friend?'
'Well, you should know,' said the
mousedeer, and he and the elephant walked into the jungle laughing.
Two Friends who tried to empty the
sea
Once upon a time, there were two good friends. They
promised to help each other if they were-in trouble. Soon, one of them married
a very good woman but the other married a bad one.
One night, the man with the good wife said, 'How shall
we make a living?'
'What would you like to do’ his wife asked. 'You can
order me to do anything and I'll obey you.'
A few nights later, the husband
said, 'Wife, I've thought of a plan which will make us rich. We'll have silver and
gold and golden plates and trays.'
'What is your plan’
'A long time ago,' her husband said, 'there were many
rich ships on the sea. Some were lucky and crossed the sea safely. Others sank
to the bottom with all their gold and silver. Now, let's go to the shore and
take all the water from the sea. When the sea is empty, we'll find all kinds of
gold and silver and fish on the bottom.
Tomorrow morning, boil some rice and we'll
start off early for the shore.'
The next day they went down to
the shore together. The man took a basket and his wife took another. They
began to lift water out of the sea onto the beach. They worked hard, carrying up the water, 'Sloosh, sloosh, sloosh,' until it was time to eat. When they had finished
eating, they started to work again. In the afternoon, they went home and the
next morning they came back. They worked hard for five days. Then the husband
looked out across the sea. 'Look,' he said, 'the sea is lower already.'
'Good,' said his wife. 'Let's keep on working and in two weeks the
sea will be quite dry. Then we'll have fish to eat and fish to sell and all the
gold and silver from the ships at the bottom.'
In the evening they went home, and
returned to the shore the next morning. While they worked, they said again, 'In
two weeks the sea will be quite dry. Then we can take all the fish
and gold and silver.'
The fish in the sea heard them and became frightened. They said
to each other, 'If that is true, we'll
all be dead very soon. We must go and speak to the king of the fish.
Perhaps lie can save us.'
They swam off to see the
king of the fish. They told him
what had happened. The king listened to them and then said, "Take five
jars of gold and five of silver and some golden trays. Tell the man and woman
that if they stop taking the water out of the sea, you will give theta gold and
the silver.'
The fish did what the king said.
When the man and his wife received
the gold and silver, they were very happy. From then on, they never took
any water out of the sea.
A few months later, the man with the bad wife
remembered his friend. He decided to visit him. When he arrived, he found his friend was as polite and friendly as before. But he was richer now.
'My friend was very poor before,' he thought. 'I wonder what he's
done to become so rich.' He said to his friend, 'I've become very poor but you
are rich now. How did you do it’
'Well,' said his friend, 'I got rich
by taking water out of the sea. My wife and I did it alone. She boiled some
rice before daylight and we went to the shore at sunrise. In the afternoon we came home. The king of fish became frightened. He told the fish to give
us jars of gold and silver to stop us from emptying the sea.'
The man with the bad wife said
goodbye to his friend and went home. That
night, he said to his wife, 'Boil
some rice before daylight and we'll start
off early for the shore. We're going to empty the sea.'
But, in the morning, his wife got up late. She boiled the rice so carelessly that half of it was spilt. They left home
when the sun was already high in the sky.
Day after day, they lifted the water
out of the sea with their baskets. But the work was hard and they soon became
angry. The fish were frightened again. They waited near the shore. They watched the man and woman_ and
listened to what they said.
On the fifth day, the wife threw down her basket and
said, ' We've worked here for five days and I haven't seen
any gold or silver. I'm not a fool. I'm going to stop.'
When he heard this, her husband was angry. They began to
quarrel. They shouted at each other. Then they started fighting. They fought
so hard that the woman tore off her husband's sarong and he
tore off hers. There they stood, naked
on the beach, tired and ashamed.
'We've always
been slaves,' they said, 'and we always will be. We won't become rich like this.
Let's stop.'
When the fish saw them naked and ashamed on the shore,
they jumped out of the water and laughed. They were very happy
because they did not have to give away their gold and silver.
One fish laughed
so hard that it stretched its mouth and that is why some fish now have big
mouths.
The legend of Lau Kawar Lake
It was a beautiful day. Everybody in
the Kawar village was happy. The farmers had just had their best harvest. The
villagers were planning to hold a party to celebrate the good harvest. On one
beautiful day, all the villagers gathered in a field. They wore beautiful
dresses and made delicious food. Everybody was having good times! They were
singing, laughing and, of course, eating delicious food.
Did everyone go to the party?
Unfortunately, there was one old woman still staying at her house. She was too
old and weak to go to the party. Her son, her daughter-in-law, and her
grandchildren all went to the party. At home, the old woman felt very sad and
lonely. She was very hungry too. She tried to find some food in the kitchen,
but she was very disappointed. Her daughter-in-law did not cook that day. At
the party, the son asked her wife, “Why don’t you take some food from the party
and give it to my mom? Ask our son to deliver it.” Then the little boy brought
the food to her grandmother. The old woman was so happy. But her happiness
turned into sadness when she saw the food was not in a good condition. It
seemed that someone had eaten the food. She just got little rice and fish
bones.
The old woman was very sad. She
thought bad things about her son. The old woman did not know that it was her
grandson who had eaten the food on the way from the party to the house. She
cursed her son. Then, a terrible thing happened. There was a great earthquake!
Thunders struck the village. And heavy rains started to fall. All the villagers
were so scared. They wanted to save themselves. They tried to find shelters.
Slowly, the field turned into a lake. The lake was getting bigger and bigger,
and finally the whole village turned into a big lake. People then named the
lake Lau Kawar
The boy, the
crow and the sesame seed story
Once there was a boy who lived with his grandparents.
His job was to look after the garden where they grew beans and sesame. One day, when his
grandparents were away, the boy went fishing
instead of watching the garden.
A crow, seeing that no one was in
the garden, flew down and stole some
beans and sesame seeds.
The grandparents returned and saw what had happened.
They were very angry with their grandson for being so careless. The boy was ashamed of what he had done. He decided to get the beans and sesame seeds back. He went to a hunter. "Please
use your arrows; to shoot the crow that stole our sesame," he said.
"Nonsense," replied the hunter. "I
wouldn't help a naughty boy like you."
No matter what the boy said, the
hunter refused to help, so the boy went to see a mouse. He asked the mouse to chew the hunter's bow-string.
"What has the hunter done to hurt me? I don't see
that it's my problem," said the mouse.
Then the boy saw a cat. He asked the cat to eat
the mouse, but the cat said it wasn't
hungry. This made the boy very un‑happy, so he asked a
dog to chase the cat. The dog said, "Why don't you chase the cat
yourself?"
Now the boy was truly upset. He found a hammer which
he asked to beat the dog. The hammer refused. He asked a fire to burn the
hammer, but the fire refused. He asked the water to put out the fire, but the
water refused. He asked the earth to cover
the water. "I like water,' said the earth. "Anyway, this
really has nothing to do with me."
The boy saw an elephant standing nearby. He asked the elephant to pound the earth. The elephant refused. The poor boy sat down on a
rock and cried. When he stopped crying, lie saw
a gnat flying around his head. He
caught the gnat and said, "I
want you to fly into the elephant's ear. If you don't do it, I'll
squeeze you between my fingers."
The gnat was frightened.
"I'll do anything you ask, but please, please let me go."
So the boy
let the gnat go, and it flew into the elephant's car. This hurt the
elephant so much that it began to pound the earth. And then the earth began to
cover the water. The water started to put out the fire. The fire began to burn
the hammer, which threatened to beat the dog. The dog ran away from the hammer and chased the cat, and the cat tried
to eat the mouse. But the mouse was
beginning to gnaw the hunter's bow-string.
The hunter knocked the mouse away and shot an arrow toward
the sky. When the crow saw the arrow, it dropped all the beans and sesame seeds
back into the garden and flew away.
When the boy went home, his
grandparents were very pleased. They forgave him, but after that the boy
watched the garden very carefully and never let the crow come near.
JOHNNY,
THE LAZY BOY
Once upon a time, there was a lazy boy called Johnny.
He never cleaned his bedroom. One day, on a sunny day,
Johnny decided to have a picnic at the park nearby.
At the park, Johnny sat near the
pond. After sometime, he started to enjoy the food he had brought. Johnny was too lazy to throw the food wrappers into the dustbin. So he just
threw the fruit peel, food wrappers, plastic bags, and cans into the
pond.
Poor the creatures in the pond!
They all suffered from what Johnny did. Some of them lost their food, some others
lost their homes, and to make it worse, the rubbish also hit some fish.
At night, the angry fish, crabs, and prawns visited
Johnny's house. These creatures changed into giant creatures. They gathered in Johnny's bedroom. When Johnny saw these
creatures, he was so frightened to death that he was just lying stiffly
on his bed.
"Is it the boy?" asked the crab to a fish.
"Yes, he was. I saw him throwing the banana
skin," answered the fish.
"How could you do it to my baby? He was injured
by the can you threw," cried another fish.
"Let me crush this little
destructing creature for the thing he has done to us," growled the giant
crab while moving
its claws. "Clunk, clunk, clunk!"
Johnny did not know what to say.
He got up quickly and rushed to the door, but he was not careful that he slipped and
fell onto the floor.
Suddenly, he was awake and found
himself lying on the floor of his room. Not a single water creature was there. It
was just a dream.
"Thank God, it was just a
dream. From now on, I will never throw
rubbish carelessly," Johnny murmured.
A naughty school boy
Everyone agreed that John Tsui was a
naughty boy. He had a bad temper and did not study hard at school. His father
paid for a private teacher to teach him at home. But john was rude to his
teacher. His teacher said he did not want to teach him anymore. John’s father
tried to find another teacher, but it was not easy to do so.
At last, a teacher who had just come
from Singapore agreed to teach him. John’s father was very pleased. He sent for
John to come and meet his new teacher. John was very rude. He took no notice of
his new teacher and left the room without saying a word. The next day, john
arrived late for his first lesson. He hoped this would make his teacher angry.
But his teacher did not seem to mind. The next day, he was again late. This
time, his teacher was playing the piano.
“can you teach me to play the
piano?” he asked his teacher.
“Yes, if you really want to learn,”
his teacher replied.
After that, his teacher gave him
piano lesson twice a week. John was really very clever and he did not need much
teaching.
In a short while, he could play
quite well.
“Can you teach me anything else?” he
asked his teacher.
“I don’t know what you would like to
learn,” his teacher said. “Perhaps you can teach me something?”
“I only know how to box,” John
replied. “If you want to learn, I can teach you.”
John asked his teacher to stand up.
As soon as he did so, he tried to hit his fist. But his teacher was too quick
for him. He caught hold of his arm and held it tight. John could not move. He
had to ask his teacher to forgive him. He promised that he would study harder
in future.
“If you want to study harder,” his
teacher said, “It is not enough to learn from one man. You must learn from many
men.”
“How can I do that?” John asked.
His teacher pointed to the books in
front of him. “You must study hard and read as many books as you can. Each book
contains knowledge. If you do that, you will soon be able to learn many new
things for yourself.
John studied hard after that. When
he grew up, he became a very famous man.
